CANON Lyall (Malvern Gazette, November 24) is right in expressing his concern at the five per cent increase in the diocesan budget. Church treasurers have regularly voiced concern that the diocese ignores concerns that services to the community are continually being increased without any consideration of the ability of parishes to meet the financial demands. read more

ON behalf of the National Pensioners' Convention, the Malvern & District Branches of Age Concern and the Civil Service Pensioners' Alliance jointly raised nearly 300 signatures on a petition to Her Majesty the Queen, calling for a substantial increase in the State Retirement Pension. read more

A RECENT survey into the transport network in the UK shows that Birmingham and the West Midlands are suffering from the worst congestion in the country and goes on to identify the cause as neglect of the road system. read more

MR R G Spencer, of Court Road (Malvern Gazette, December 15), concludes that the present chaos on our railways is due to recent EU legislation. In particular, he cites the directive which required state-run railway systems to be split into separate infrastructure and operating companies. Well, if this is so, how is it that most of our continental neighbours have rail systems that are vastly superior to ours? In Holland for instance, they have now split their state owned rail company into three companies: Railnet, which owns the infrastructure, Nederland Spoorwagen (NS), which operates the passenger trains, and NS Cargo, which operates freight services. But, despite being split up, the Dutch Rail system still runs like clockwork, and has the highest level of punctuality in Europe! read more

AS it is Christmas, I would like to extend my thanks to all the people of Malvern, Ledbury, Colwall, Upton and other parts of the Malvern's area, who have supported Malvern Outdoors during its first nine months of existence. read more

THE bleeper kicks into loud insistent life, lunch three-quarters eaten - lucky this time! My younger fireman son pelts from the table out into the wet farmland to hurtle to the fire station in Upton four miles away, creating mutterings from other normal people in their cars doing normal Christmassy things, completely oblivious as to why this handsome, mop-haired young man of 27 should be in so much of a hurry. read more

A PIONEERING campaign by West Mercia Police to crack down on opportunities for thieves and burglars to cash in on stolen goods -- and which will soon cover the Droitwich Spa area -- has won a major cash boost from the Government. read more

THE bells rang out on Christmas Eve to call the people to Midnight Mass at St Peter's Church where, in spite of the wet conditions of the winter's night, over 120 people attended the service, led by the Rev David Nichol. read more